GET REEL: They are women, let them roar

Sunday

The #MeToo Movement has put women front and center in the news cycle following a seemingly daily round of sexual harassment revelations involving men with high profiles and low moral character.

Whether this outrage carries over into the realm of cinema, where the alleged kingpin of sexual abuse Harvey Weinstein resided, remains to be seen.

Perhaps it’s just a coincidence that five of the 10 films nominated for Golden Globes as best picture in the drama and musical or comedy categories feature female protagonists:

· Katharine Graham (played by Meryl Streep), publisher of The Washington Post, who worked in an industry dominated by men in “The Post.”

· Elisa Esposito (played by Sally Hawkins), a mute janitor who has to contend with a brutish government agent to continue her relationship with an aquatic creature in “The Shape of Water.”

· Mildred Hayes (played by Frances McDormand), a grieving mother who has three billboards erected to draw attention, in her opinion, to police inactivity in solving the case of her daughter who was raped and murdered in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”

· Tonya Harding (played by Margot Robbie), the rough-around-the edges figure skater whose career collapsed following her connection to an attack on her fellow skater Nancy Kerrigan in “I, Tonya.”

· Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (played by Saoirse Ronan), a headstrong teenager locked in a battle of wills with her mother in “Lady Bird."

That’s the good news. The bad news is that three female directors who should have been nominated weren’t: Patty Jenkins for “Wonder Woman,” Greta Gerwig for “Lady Bird” and Dee Rees for “Mudbound.” Yes, it was another all-boys club for best director at the Golden Globes - a fact that Golden Globe presenter Natalie Portman pointed out during last Sunday's broadcast.

That snub shouldn’t be surprising, sadly. Last Sunday marked the 75th annual awards for the Golden Globes and during that time, only one woman has been named best director: Barbra Streisand for “Yentl” in 1983. Streisand, who mentioned that fact while presenting the Best Picture award, was nominated again in 1991 for “The Prince of Tides,” but she didn’t win, and neither did Jane Campion for “The Piano” in 1993, Sophia Coppola for “Lost in Translation” in 2003 and Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker” in 2009 and “Zero Dark Thirty” in 2012. Only four female nominees and one winner in 75 years - that’s more like #NotMeToo.

Women directors haven’t fared much better with Oscar voters. Again the nominees number four: Linda Wertmuller for “Seven Beauties” in 1976, Campion for “The Piano,” Coppola for “Lost in Translation” and Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker.” Only Bigelow took home the statuette. That’s one award winner in 89 years.

One can attribute this appalling situation to a few factors, gender bias being one. Apologists will point out that women have only recently been given the opportunity to direct. That's a crock, however. There were women directors back in the silent film era.

A Jan. 12 article in Vanity Fair by Brent Lang isn't very encouraging. "Women comprised just 7 percent of all directors working on the 250 highest-grossing domestic releases in 2016, a decline of two percentage points from the level achieved in 2015 and in 1998, according to a new report from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. The results come after two years of debate about the lack of opportunities for women and minorities to rise up through the studio system." Lang wrote. He notes that actresses, including Oscar-winners Jennifer Lawrence and Natalie Portman, have publicly decried the lack of pay equity for women and the dearth of female filmmakers.

"The report also hits as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) continues to investigate gender discrimination in the movie business," Lang continued.

"The center’s study shows the importance of giving women opportunities to literally call the shots. Films with women directors employ higher percentages of female writers, editors, cinematographers and composers than films with men behind the camera. Women made up 64 percent of writers on films from female directors, 43 percent of editors and 16 percent of cinematographers. On films with exclusively male directors, women accounted for 9 percent of writers, 17 percent of editors and 6 percent of cinematographers."

Martha Lauzen, executive director of the center and the study’s author, said she’s no longer certain that public shaming is enough. Government action may be required. “The industry has shown little real will to change in a substantive way,” she said. “For real change to occur we may need some intervention by an outside source.”

In her blog, published online in the Huffington Post on May 11, 2016, British filmmaker Susanna White had this to say: "There are unique pressures on the hiring structure of a film production. It’s a freelance industry, done on a project-by-project basis, unmonitored by any sort of HR policy. For an industry one thinks of as progressive and forward looking, it’s surprisingly risk averse. The hiring pattern tends to be one of hiring people like the ones who have gone before and those people are overwhelmingly men."

This writer will be shocked, shocked if the Academy doesn’t right the Golden Globes’ wrong by nominating at least one of the aforementioned directors. Since the Academy has also been criticized for ignoring black artists, it could temper that criticism as well by nominating Rees, who is black.

Particularly galling is the Golden Globe shutout thrown at “Wonder Woman.” Not only did Jenkins fail to garner a nomination, neither did the film’s star Gal Gadot. Just because the character is based on a comic book character doesn’t mean it necessarily lacks creative merit. Case in point, “The Dark Knight,” featuring Batman. That film earned the late Heather Ledger an Oscar and a Golden Globe for best supporting actor for his mesmerizing performance as The Joker.

“Wonder Woman” was also a box-office smash. Perhaps that didn’t help the film with those snobs who refuse to equate quality with popularity. If the public loves it, it can’t possibly be good. I hope the Academy will right this wrong as well.

The film with arguably the highest profile for women is “The Post” and for a number of reasons. First, it stars Streep, co-stars Tom Hanks and is directed by Steven Spielberg. That trio has hauled in a total of eight Oscars and their new film has already received Oscar buzz.

Secondly, Graham, the character Streep portrays, became the first female publisher of a major American newspaper when she took over the reins of The Washington Post following the 1963 suicide of her husband, Philip, who had been publisher since 1946. Katharine Graham’s father, Eugene Meyer, bought the paper in 1933 and was its previous publisher.

That Graham had to deal with sexism, both overtly and covertly, is no surprise considering the time period when few women in the United States were in positions of power. On top of that, the film shows Graham dealing with a momentous decision: whether the paper should print the controversial Pentagon Papers at a time when the paper had decided to go public. Investors might get a littler nervous if the object of their financial desire ran afoul of the law. The New York Times had already been forced by a court injunction to stop publishing the papers, a leaked document that doesn’t paint a very rosy portrait of America's war effort in Vietnam.

Graham’s decision to continuing publishing the Pentagon Papers put the Post in the White House’s cross hairs and the case went to the Supreme Court where freedom of the press was basically put on trial.

Some folks might see a parallel between Nixon’s attempt to stifle the press and the less than cordial treatment of the mainstream media by another president who shall go nameless. If the film wins the best picture Oscar, you can bet that some pundits will see its victory as a not-so-subtle rebuke of that nameless president.

Spoiler alert for those unfamiliar with the issue. In case you’re wondering where Spielberg stands on the subject of female empowerment, after the Supreme Court rules in the paper’s favor, Graham exits the courthouse passing by a phalanx of admiring women.

In fact, all the women nominated for best actress by the Golden Globes portray strong female characters. Seven of the 10 nominees in the drama and musical or comedy categories also play either real-life characters or, in the case of “Lady Bird,” a composite of a real-life character. Gerwig has dismissed semi-autobiographical claims. That Ronan looks and acts like Gerwig must be a coincidence. For the record, Ronan won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. McDormand won for Best Actress in a Drama. The Best Picture Drama award went to "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" and the Best Comedy/Musical went to "Lady Bird," which is neither a comedy nor a musical.

Anyway, in addition to Street’s Graham, Jessica Chastain plays Molly Bloom, who ran a high-stakes poker game in a milieu dominated by men, in “Molly’s Game”; Michelle Williams plays Gail Getty, who clashes with billionaire J. Paul Getty after her son is kidnapped, in “All The Money in The World”; Judi Dench plays the queen of England in “Victoria & Abdul”; Margot Robbie plays Tonya Harding, who overcome years of abuse to become an ice skating champion, in “I, Tonya”; and Emma Stone plays tennis great Billie Jean King, who struck a resounding blow for womankind by defeating male chauvinist showman Bobby Riggs, in “Battle of the Sexes.”

Of course, the strongest women of them all, Wonder Woman, wasn’t invited to the party. One solution would be for women to throw their own parties, if only the glass ceiling and its creators weren’t so thick.

About 50 years ago, an ad for Virginia Slims cigarettes proclaimed, “You’ve come a long way, baby.” Once the smoke evaporates, however, you’ll clearly see that there’s still a long way to go, and not just in Hollywood.

Last month’s tester: Only three times in the history of the Academy Awards has a film won best directing, writing and acting honors yet failed to be named best picture. Name the three films.

Answer: "7th Heaven," "The Informer" and "The Pianist."

Kolleen Jaillet of Marlborough was the first reader to answer the question correctly. Congratulations! Ryan Lerman of Coral Springs, Florida, also answered the question correctly. In addition, I am going to give credit to Rick Thurston of Cambridge because the question should have specified lead acting performances. If you include supporting actor performances, "Traffic" also qualifies.

This month's tester: What thespian never lost a Golden Globe race (5 for 5) but never won an Oscar race (0 for 4)?

The first reader to answer the question correctly will receive a prize.

Trivia enthusiasts can call me at 508-626-4409 or email me at rtremblay@wickedlocal.com. Make sure you leave your name, address and phone number on my message machine or email so I can contact you if you answered the question correctly. The address is needed so winners can be mailed their prize. Callers should spell out their names slowly and clearly so their names will be spelled correctly in the column.